Eastern Railroad Discussion > NS Dispatcher

does anyone know the current location for the NS dispatcher.........
wonder if they will move them out west ?????????????

Thanks

Frisco1971 Wrote:
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> does anyone know the current location for the NS
> dispatcher.........
> wonder if they will move them out west
> ?????????????
>
> Thanks

Aren't they in the new headquarter building in Atlanta?

Brings to mind, who will take over that crown jewel building in Atlanta?

Yes, I believe all dispatchers are at the Atlanta headquarters complex now.

UP is saying that complex will remain a core site for them. I'm not sure, too, if they could make room in the Harriman Dispatch Center for all the ex-NS desks.

CSX made a deal as part of taking over their share of Conrail that they would honor contracts and retain CR dispatchers at Selkirk for a number of years. This did ultimately close after around 15 years or so when they moved everything back to Jacksonville, but I could see that as being part of the deal for the transcon UP. Many core functions for the NS territory including dispatchers will remain as-is where is for some length of time afterwards.

disclaimer, this is all very far in the future and I have no idea how it will play out. I'm just looking at what happened with CSX during the Conrail split as above and thinking about how integration of things takes time. This is not going to be something where they just flip a switch and move everything to Omaha on day one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/25 16:06 by GP40.

GP40 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, I believe all dispatchers are at the Atlanta
> headquarters complex now.
>
> UP is saying that complex will remain a core site
> for them. I'm not sure, too, if they could make
> room in the Harriman Dispatch Center for all the
> ex-NS desks.
>
> CSX made a deal as part of taking over their share
> of Conrail that they would honor contracts and
> retain CR dispatchers at Selkirk for a number of
> years. This did ultimately close after around 15
> years or so when they moved everything back to
> Jacksonville, but I could see that as being part
> of the deal for the transcon UP. Many core
> functions for the NS territory including
> dispatchers will remain as-is where is for some
> length of time afterwards.

You are probably right about the dispatchers. However, I would not be surprised if UP would be subletting some office space in Atlanta within a few years.

NS dispatchers are union, UP's are not.  I doubt they will want them to mix.  

NS calls it NOC - Network Operations Center. It would be really idiotic to put dispatching for a railroad that size all under one roof, even if it is underground. The economic impact of a catastrophe would endanger the national economy. 

For a while, NS had several former Conrail dispatch facilities as "back up".  Have these been closed?

halfmoonharold Wrote:
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> NS calls it NOC - Network Operations Center. It
> would be really idiotic to put dispatching for a
> railroad that size all under one roof, even if it
> is underground. The economic impact of a
> catastrophe would endanger the national economy. 

I agree, but you do not know what some clown might decide to do in the future.

Typhoon Wrote:
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> NS dispatchers are union, UP's are not.  I doubt
> they will want them to mix.  

The NS dispatchers will lose their union protection, just as UP did to the former SP dispatchers.

atlanta made a deal with NS, didn't they, if so they may have a term to stay in their leASE

DutchDragon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Typhoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > NS dispatchers are union, UP's are not.  I
> doubt
> > they will want them to mix.  
>
> The NS dispatchers will lose their union
> protection, just as UP did to the former SP
> dispatchers.

Did it go to a vote? It did for the yardmasters.

DutchDragon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Typhoon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > NS dispatchers are union, UP's are not.  I
> doubt
> > they will want them to mix.  
>
> The NS dispatchers will lose their union
> protection, just as UP did to the former SP
> dispatchers.

Yeah, that is not how that works.  

Typhoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NS dispatchers are union, UP's are not.  I doubt
> they will want them to mix.  

That was the BN-SF situation. ATDA won.

TAW

Serikoujsly?  Who cares?  This not a done deal and if it hap[ens it won't be until 2027

Frisco1971 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> does anyone know the current location for the NS
> dispatcher.........
> wonder if they will move them out west
> ?????????????
>
> Thanks

bnsf6606 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Serikoujsly?  Who cares?  This not a done deal
> and if it hap[ens it won't be until 2027
 
I am sure the NS dispatchers care.

Something that is lost in all the crayon-on-map prognostication.
The picture takers are all planning thier last of and first of shots.
The money makers are planning on how to spend the money their stocks will make.

The employees who will take it up the rear as they always do in mergers?  Who cares.......

My recollection is many Chicago & Northwestern employees collected a bundle when the Union Pacific bought out C&NW. The employees had received stock over the years, and the company was majority owned by employees for a while.

 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> For a while, NS had several former Conrail
> dispatch facilities as "back up".  Have these
> been closed?

someone is welcome to correct me if I'm wrong, but I am pretty sure that they are all closed. I live in Cleveland, and Northeast Ohio broadly speaking was a big division point region for NS, so I was familiar with dispatchers For the Lake, Pittsburgh, and Dearborn divisions, and I can tell you that those are now all gone. 

I agree with one of the earlier points about the need for redundancy, but it seems to me like virtually every Class I has gone to a central office model vs regional model. The exception, and it's a very limited exception, is BNSF having a California-only dispatch center in addition to their main one in Fort Worth... unless that also bit it like the NS divisions. 

You do realize backup facility's exist. NS has a second facility across Atlanta to the North east. That stands empty until its needed in a emergency. The recent exception to the emergency use they moved the dispatchers there during a remodel of the former building. All train crews raised hell over it account the older radio system that facility had was hard to hear. 
halfmoonharold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NS calls it NOC - Network Operations Center. It
> would be really idiotic to put dispatching for a
> railroad that size all under one roof, even if it
> is underground. The economic impact of a
> catastrophe would endanger the national economy. 

Typhoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DutchDragon Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Typhoon Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > NS dispatchers are union, UP's are not.  I
> > doubt
> > > they will want them to mix.  
> >
> > The NS dispatchers will lose their union
> > protection, just as UP did to the former SP
> > dispatchers.
>
> Yeah, that is not how that works.  

That's exactly how that works. SP was ATDA, UP was not. They forced an election and the SP dispatchers lost their union protection. UP did the same with the CNW.

DutchDragon Wrote:
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>
> That's exactly how that works. SP was ATDA, UP was
> not. They forced an election and the SP
> dispatchers lost their union protection. UP did
> the same with the CNW.

Union de-certification is a very in demand skill set for legal firms right now.  Many DC management advisory and law firms have specialized practices on that specific specialty. Several Gibson Dunn lawyers are now in prominent Department of Labor positions. One senior and widely respected member of Gibson Dunn's management advisory practice  is former Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia.  

If you want to bust a union, there are lots of highly skilled folks who can help you do it. Not cheap, not pretty, but they get the job done.

If a union isn't doing the job its members expect, and its leadership is entrenched, it ought to be thrown out.